Doctor Who: Time Lord Victorious - All Flesh is Grass

I thoroughly enjoyed the first "Doctor Who: Time Lord Victorious" novel, so I came into this second novel with high hopes.  The first book has such a strong feel of an episode of the TV show, I could actually 'watch' it in my mind as I was reading the book.  I mean, any time BBC and its various writers bring together more than just two Doctors for a special story, it's bound to be good.  Right?  I mean, here we have the Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann), the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston, my favorite!), and the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant), coming together - the Tenth Doctor to stop the Kotturuh, and the Eighth and Ninth Doctors to stop the Tenth Doctor from genocide.  And the Eighth Doctor has brought along the Daleks, the sworn enemy of the Doctor, and the Ninth Doctor has brought a horde of vampires.  Who is actually fighting on the right side here?   Such a great premise, such a great build up in the last book....and such a huge let-down with this second part.

All Flesh is Grass, written by Uma McCormack, lacks almost everything the previous book had that made it such a great Doctor Who story.  While the story picks up right where the previous "Time Lord Victorious" book left off, it's as different as night is from day.  First, and probably foremost, is the fact that the author does not have a grasp on the personalities for the various Doctors.  One of the things about Doctor Who that has made it fascinating, for me at least, is that each incarnation of the Doctor has a very different, very distinct personality that sets him (or her, as the case may now be) from every other version.  The Ninth Doctor was serious; the Tenth Doctor was adventurous; the Eleventh Doctor was fun; the Twelfth Doctor was grave; the Thirteenth Doctor is surprising; and so on.  But in this book, none of the Doctors have their personality.  Rather, they read very stiff and dry.  As I read their dialogue, I don't hear any of their voices like I did in the previous book.  It's just dialogue that, quite frankly, any character could have said and it would have had the same impact.  There was nothing that made any of them feel like the Doctor.

And this whole idea that the Tenth Doctor would purposefully set out to wipe out an entire species?  I'm sorry, but that does not at all fit with the Tenth Doctor's characterization.  The Ninth Doctor?  Maybe.  The Eighth Doctor?  Probably not.  In fact, I don't know of ANY Doctor that would set out to wipe out a species, except maybe the War Doctor (John Hurt).  So, the entire premise just did not work.  The Doctor ALWAYS finds a way around it.  I was so put off by the characterization, that I had to push myself to get through the book and finish it, which rarely happens to me when I'm reading.  Honestly, I got more enjoyment out of he Daleks and the vampires than I did out of the Doctors.  And there were no companions in this story (unless you count Brian, the Ood, but he had his own agenda - and, quite frankly, he was more interesting to read than any of the Doctors - I found myself wanting to see where his story was going to take him).  Maybe that's why the Doctors' characterization was so off?  I think it was Donna who told the Doctor at the end of her first story (the Christmas special) that he needed to find himself someone, that he needed someone to keep him grounded.  And I think this book is a perfect example of just how right she was!

And speaking of Donna...

Probably the best thing about this book was on page 72, when the Eighth Doctor gets aboard the ship the Tenth Doctor had commandeered.  When Eight comments about a ship like that never appealing to him, Ten responds with: "Well, it's come in handy ... Took me a while to name it but I've settled on HMS Donna because, well, there's no arguing with it." Not only does my all-time favorite companion get a mention and a ship named after her, but she's the one character that McCormack actually got right!  Because, let's face it, there really was no arguing with Donna Noble - you always knew she would win in the end!  So, with this, the book had at least one redeeming quality.

As for the story itself - McCormack jumped back and forth among the Doctors and various characters so often, that it became somewhat hard to follow the story.  Just when you start getting into one part of the adventure, the story jumps to another scene - then to another - then back to the first - then to the third - then to the second - then to the third again - then back to the first - and so on, and so on.  It felt very jumbled, and sadly, did not flow smoothly as you are reading it.  And when the three Doctors finally meet, and you think this is going to lead up to a big battle, nope - they get separated, and we start jumping around again.  The writing lacked the cohesion and flow necessary to make it a good read, and felt more like the author simply was throwing one action sequence after another at the reader in the hopes the reader will ignore the lack of proper characterization and transitions.

At least this is the final "Time Lord Victorious" novel, so if there are any Doctor Who books in the future that I buy (depending on who the companions are), I hope they find better authors to handle them!

RATING:  4 slowly dying spider plants out of 10 for bringing three Doctors together in a story that at least gives a nod to Donna Noble - the best companion of all time!